She was clearly still feeling the effects from a recent debaucherous trip to Venice and had lost her phone earlier that day, but electro/hip hop/pop princess Uffie took the time out to speak with me from her hotel in Paris where she was within days of shooting the video clip for her new single 'Difficult’.  

The 22 year old Miami-born, Hong Kong-raised and Paris-based singer/rapper/MC, Uffie will be city hopping around Oz with the rest of the Parklife line-up to perform tracks from her debut album Sex Dreams and Denim Jeans (released in June). She’s a sensation that I would angle as a mix between Peaches, MIA, The Knife, Justice and Santagold. Uffie’s no stranger to our shores, having first travelled here to perform with her long-time friend/ex-boyfriend DJ Feadz for Fuzzy’s Field Day 2008. The experience was so great that it’s psyched her up to be playing here again for Fuzzy’s  2010 Parklife tour.

 “My last visit to Australia was so much fun. Australia is definitely my favourite crowd to play because of all their energy, and the festivals are so fun and they always have a great line up so I’m excited to play there again… I’m really excited this time around, especially because Missy Elliott is on the line-up, which will be great!”

But wowing crowds with her high energy, seductive stage presence and unreserved lyrics (6 out of the 16 tracks on her album carry an ‘explicit’ warning) aren’t the only things that Uffie has planned for her Australian visit:

“I’ll be for around two weeks [all together] and I get a few days off which I’m really happy about - to go adventuring. Me and Danger Dan from Ksubiare going to go skydiving. Apparently you take off somewhere [over] the ocean and you end up on the beach. So yeah we’re doing that in Sydney, it’s going to be fun!”

Her accent tells of a girl who has been bred in an international lifestyle - having lived in three different countries and travelling across many more since the start of her career. I asked her what this meant for her music:

“I think music now is quite an international thing. You know with the internet everyone can post something and you have everything at your fingertips so I think it’s created a much more global movement. Working in France has definitely changed the music because the producers are French touch producers. So with that, I don’t think that moving around has had such a big influence on my music.”

In regards to travelling so frequently:

“It’s often that I don’t know where I’m going next – I just take it one day at a time. What I do know is the day I get back [to Paris], I’ll fly to Belgium for a day, and then to New York.”

“For some reason I’m always in Germany, I remember there was time when I was there twice a week for a month! I think it’s because, weirdly, my music is really big there – which is cool. And my favourite city is Berlin for sure.”

There’s no doubt that the popularity for Uffie’s music is popular and growing among the western market, but there is one market that she desires to crack, but has kept on the backburner through no control of her own:

“I’ve never performed in Russia and I have no idea of my Russian fan base so maybe I have none, but I just figure it would be really fun! I’ve always wanted to go and think it would be a crazy experience, don’t you?”

Indeed!

One of the things that kept Uffie from travelling as much was the birth of her daughter Henrietta last October. Experiencing motherhood sent her on a hiatus with both travelling and the release of her album. She doesn’t take daughter with her while she’s touring because, “it gets to the point where it’s like different cities everyday and you’re like doing interviews all day so I don’t think it’s a good atmosphere for a baby. It’s not easy being away from her but there’s always Skype…” (laughs)

Uffie remains tight-lipped on the baby’s permanent whereabouts – which could be due in part to the fresh experience she’s had with an overly enthusiastic ‘fan’…

“I’ve had problems with a stalker recently, which has subsided a bit… It got pretty creepy, I’m talking like almost getting out a restraining order!”

Wow. What a jerk! Wait, it’s a guy right?

(laughs) “Yeah it’s a guy. I think it would be less creepy if it were a girl!”

While Uffie says that Henrietta hasn’t had a huge influence on her music in terms of its aesthetic, her birth has definitely had an influence on the way that Uffie’s creating music:

“You definitely become much more organised with your time and you mature as a person very quickly. There’s just not as much time to mess about with.” 

The third track on her album, 'ADD SUV', features Pharrell Williams and was produced by the infamous Mirwais (who has worked with both Madonna & Fischerspooner). The video clip depicts Uffie having a run-in with the law, so I thought I’d ask her how dirty or clean her own criminal record looks…

“Oh yeah I’ve definitely [had run ins with the cops] in the past… But that was all when I was younger. I’ve had nothing since I turned 18, so I’ve got a clean record, for now…” (laughs)

In the last few years has seen a huge trend for collaborations like 'ADD SUV' being created between artists globally, so I asked Uffie what her thoughts were on the phenomenon and why it’s occurred:

“I just think that with the Internet, everything has become so international and you can just do stuff and email each other files and it’s so easy to get in touch with other artists and collaborate. Audio-visually it’s just really easy. So I think it’s just that people are taking advantage of what’s happening.”

So if Uffie wasn’t Uffie the multifaceted-genre recording artist, who would she be?

“Wow, uhhh… I don’t really know to be honest…(pauses to think)… I’d probably be in fashion design? I mean I just did a line for Diesel that’s coming out in November. It’s their fall capsule collection and features twelve pieces I’ve created, so I’m really looking forward to seeing how that goes.”

For the next album is looking to not take as long as her last, which was three years in the making due to creative disputes, motherhood etc. “I learnt a lot from that experience, I definitely won’t take as long next time!” she says. She’s also keen to have one of her favourite artist’s Swiss Beats, collaborate on one of her tracks:

“I think Swiss Beats would definitely be someone I’d love to collaborate with next because I’m a big fan of his. It’s something I really want to do for the next album so we’ll see. Stay tuned…”

For her next album, Uffie will be looking to the Big Apple for inspiration:

I’m actually moving to New York for a few months (during Christmas and NYE) to record my next album. New York for Christmas should be awesome. I don’t usually go there [to record] but I thought it would be a good change.”

And don’t expect her usual aid DJ Feadz to have much creative input to her second album as she says that the two, “don’t really work together anymore but [are] still really good friends.”

So for those of your not yet familiar with her work, the enigmatic Miss describes her music as the love child between Blondie and Jay Z. Tickle your fancy?

“Get ready to party Australia, save all your energy for Parklife!” 

Don't miss Uffie and the Parklife crew as they ravage our major cities during September/October.
Dates below, tickets on sale now!


Sat 25th September - Gold Coast 
Sun 26th September - Perth

Sat 2nd October - Melbourne
Sun 3rd October – Sydney

Mon 4th October - Adelaide